Wells Women's Volleyball Gets Past Cazenovia, 3-1

AURORA, New York – In front of a raucous crowd on Senior Night, the Wells College women's volleyball team posted a 3-1 victory over visiting Cazenovia College on Friday. Wells moves to 8-7 overall with the win while improving to 4-0 within North Eastern Athletic Conference play. The Wildcats drop to 4-8 overall and to 1-3 within league play.

Wells picked up the four-set victory via scores of 25-18, 17-25, 25-15 and 25-17. The Express now move to 4-0 against Cazenovia since restarting its volleyball program prior to the 2012 season. In that span, the Express have only lost five sets to their conference rivals.

Senior Vashti Nettles (Long Beach, Calif.) led Wells with 15 kills while junior Meredith Kadjeski

stepped up and posted 11 kills on 22 swings, committing only three errors in the match. Sophomore Eliza Schwab (Hartland, N.Y.) posted 33 assists for Wells while classmate Olyvia Brazier (Stony Brook, N.Y.) recorded 14 of her team's 43 digs, leading the way defensively.

With the score tied at 12 in the first set, a kill from Kadjeski gave Wells a lead they would not relinquish. With Nettles serving, the Express used a Kadjeski kill and back-to-back service aces to take a 17-12 lead that the hosts would not look back from. Down the stretch, Nettles hammered home three kills with her team ahead 21-17, almost single-handedly closing out the opening set victory.

Following a Cazenovia timeout trailing by a 13-12 margin, the Wildcats rallied to take the second set by a 25-17 score to tie the match at one. Posting 13 digs in the set, Cazenovia's defense extended several rallies down the stretch and took advantage of six attacking errors by Wells. Cazenovia was led by nine kills and a team-leading four terminations in the second set by Chase Moran.

The Express countered their second set loss by posting a 9-1 lead to open the third set. Wells went on to build several sizeable leads, taking a 14-5 lead before extending the lead to 21-12. The Express offense ultimately lifted the team in the set's waning points as sophomore Anuhea Leite-Ah Yo (Hilo, Hawaii), Nettles and senior Nicole Loeven (Pawling, N.Y.) posted three kills for the matches' final four points.

Leading by 10 points (22-12) in the third set, Cazenovia used a string of serves from Michaela Marotti to post five-straight points before a kill by Schwab at match point gave Wells the 3-1 victory over the Wildcats.

In a pre-match ceremony, seniors Nettles, Loeven, Zakarra Butts (Cortland, N.Y.) and Evelyn Abbott (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) were recognized, alongside their friends and family. Head Coach Richard Gary reflected on their progress as a unit in his speech, noting the efforts of Loeven, Butts and Abbott in helping Wells field their first-ever NCAA Division III-era women's volleyball team in 2012.

 

Wells returns to action Saturday, Oct. 3 as they welcome Gallaudet for a 10 a.m. matchup in the Farenthold Athletic Wing. The Express will then take on Keuka at high noon.